


The Dog Days Aren't Over

by whelvenwings



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dog Shelter, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2014-06-30
Packaged: 2018-02-06 22:05:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1874157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whelvenwings/pseuds/whelvenwings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Dean "reluctant dog seeker" Winchester arrives in his Shelter, Castiel helps him pick out the perfect new pet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dog Days Aren't Over

The dog shelter was always hectic, but Cas usually managed to find time between feeding time and the afternoon walk to grab a cup of coffee and read his book for ten minutes, just to regain his composure and perhaps brush Millie the saluki’s long, fine hairs off his jacket. Today, though, the bell over the entrance door dinged just as Cas reached the coffee machine in the shelter’s tiny kitchenette. He sighed, and pasted a polite smile on his face before going through to the lobby.

Standing at the counter was a tall, brown-haired man who looked uncomfortable and irritated in equal measure.

Cas groaned to himself. He knew the type; a guy sent by his wife, maybe his kid, to pick the cutest bundle of fur in the place and bring it home to terrorise the neighbourhood. He was probably going to be rude and unpleasant to deal with. Outwardly, though, Cas maintained his smile.

“Good afternoon, welcome to the dog shelter,” he said. “My name is Castiel. How can I help you today?”

“Yeah, I’m looking for a dog,” the guy said, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand and not looking at Cas. No wedding ring, Cas noted. “Something small, doesn’t bark, doesn’t shed hair, doesn’t… get in the way…” the guy tailed off; he had finally managed to meet Cas’ eyes. “Hey, there,” he said, in a different tone of voice. “I’m Dean.”

“Hello, Dean,” Cas said.

“Hey,” said Dean again, smiling confidently.

There was a pause.

“So, um – the dog…?” Cas prompted. Dean nodded.

“Yeah, my brother’s always wanted a dog, and it’s coming up to his birthday, so…”

Cas nodded.

“Do you know what kind of dog he prefers? We have a lot of different types here at the centre.”

Dean shrugged. “Something big, probably,” he said. “So let’s get him a Chihuahua.”

“Chihuahuas can be very difficult dogs to handle,” Cas said seriously. “They are extremely territorial.”

“Right, OK. Well, I don’t think he’d want one anyway,” Dean replied with small smirk. “Can I maybe have a look at what you’ve got?”

Cas guided Dean through to the back of the centre, where the dogs lived in pens.

“I was thinking something young,” Dean was saying, striding down the aisle in between the cage doors. “Something kinda scary-looking too, you know. Like a pit bull, or a bulldog. I’m thinking big bark, big bite.”

Cas nodded thoughtfully, watching Dean as he searched through their canine collection. The guy’s expression was hard, his eyebrows drawn down into a slight frown and his mouth a flattened, unimpressed line.

“Something that looks kinda badass, you know? I don’t want something that’s gonna ruin our image.”

“I see,” Cas said. He looked pensive. “Do any of these dogs stand out to you?”

“Well, there’s this guy,” Dean said, gesturing to a large Rottweiler. He stretched out a hand, but the dog sensed his nervousness and growled. “Yeah, he seems real scary. He’d be good.”

Cas tilted his head to one side, his eyes narrowed sceptically. He should just let Dean pick the dog that he wanted, but there was something giving him pause… the way Dean stood, shifting from foot to foot, or the way his mouth grew softer and lifted on one side when he looked over at a fluffy old spaniel playing with a rubber toy in the corner of its cage.

“There are a couple more dogs out the back, in the medical centre,” Cas found himself saying. “Perhaps you’d like to take a look before you make your final decision?”

Dean shrugged and nodded, following Cas through a glass door and down a corridor.

“Here we go,” Cas said, stepping through an archway. Lying on a metal table, half-covered in a blanket and fast asleep, was a black female pit bull. Her fur was patchy and she was desperately thin, but when she heard them come in, the dog raised her head and wagged her tail, her eyes lighting up.

Cas watched carefully as Dean approached the dog. The guy’s expression had totally changed: his mouth slightly open and his eyebrows raised, he approached the table quietly. Without saying anything, he stretched out a hand so that the dog could sniff it. When the pit bull’s tail started to wag harder and Dean’s face lit up with a smile, Cas knew he’d made the right call.

“She was only rescued three days ago,” Cas said softly as Dean lightly patted the dog’s head. “She’s out of danger now, but she was terribly malnourished.”

“She’s great,” Dean said, and the dog’s ears pricked up at the sound of his voice. “I like her a lot.”

“Do you think your brother would, too?” Cas asked.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. Yeah, Sammy’s gonna love you,” Dean said, crooning the last part slightly as he tickled behind her ear. Cas smiled.

“You couldn’t take her right away,” he cautioned. “She’s not well enough, yet.”

“Ah, that’s OK. I wouldn’t mind coming back here, anyway,” Dean said, looking right into Cas’ eyes. Cas felt his smile widen, and there was a moment of silence as they watched each other. Cas felt a zing go up his spine: Dean’s eyes were bright green and sparkling, like the dewdrop-soaked leaves of the old oak tree out front when Cas took the dogs for their first walk in the early morning.

“Well,” said Cas eventually, and Dean cleared his throat.

“Yeah, so,” Dean said, patting his pockets and pulling out his phone and offering it to Cas. “We should probably exchange numbers, right? For, uh, for when the dog’s feeling better. Or if there’s a problem with her, you could call me.”

“Right,” said Cas, accepting the phone and tapping in the number of the dog centre. He hesitated, then erased it and keyed in his own cell. “There we go.”

“Thanks, Castiel,” Dean said, and Cas started, surprised that Dean had remembered his name.

“You’re welcome, Dean,” Cas replied. “See you soon?”

“Definitely,” Dean said. “By the way, what’s her name?”

“The dog? You can call her whatever you like, of course. These past few days, I’ve been calling her…” Cas hesitated, a little embarrassed, then finished, “Baby.”

Dean grinned. “Baby? I like that. I call my car that sometimes.” He patted her head one last time. “Baby Mark II!” he said. “We’re gonna fix you up just fine.”

Cas watched Dean leave with a glow of happiness in his chest. He started gathering up the leashes for the afternoon walk. He still wasn’t entirely sure why he hadn’t let the guy leave with his Rottweiler and gone back to his coffee break – but he did know that the memory of Dean’s smile set his heart beating faster than a caffeine hit had ever done before.


End file.
